weekend in D.C.

hello!

I've been back from D.C. since Sunday night, but July 4th kept me busy so I'm only getting to my blog now.

I arrived in the Capitol at around 10 p.m., where my lovely Marie picked me up at the bus stop and took me back to her lovely summer abode, the downstairs apartment of a family friend's amazing house. She had a nice little set up and I had my own futon for the weekend. And Marie had even made us a huge banana bread, which became our go-to snack all weekend.

We dropped off our stuff and walked up the street to this hipster ping pong table/bar place called Comet. After trying this yummy beer called Old Chub, we tried our hand at ping pong for a while. Then it was back to the apartment for some rest... we had a busy weekend ahead of us!

On Saturday we started the day by taking the metro to Eastern Market, a really popular market that has fruits, veggies, crafts, artwork, jewelry, etc. Marie picked up this really pretty bracelet and I settled with a fancy schmancy pair of silver earrings for $6. So I guess not that fancy. But cool nonetheless.

^free samples!!

Then we walked to get lunch at this burger place called "The Good Stuff" which was opened by a Top Chef winner/contestant named Spike, who happened to be at the restaurant at the time (although no one recognized him beside me and Marie!). I ordered a cheeseburger and Marie had the turkey burger, then we got some fries to split. YUMMMM. soooo delicious. Marie and I always went on dates to Sobleman's, the best burger place in Milwaukee (sorry AJ Bombers), so it was only normal for us to be eating delicious burgers and fries together. All in the name of America... seeing as it was July 4th weekend, we decided it was completely ok to engage in perhaps fatty eating.

After that, we walked over to the Capitol building, passing the Supreme Court and Library of Congress along the way.. all three buildings of which I don't think I've been to before. Last time I was in D.C. for more than a day, it was when I was 12 maybe? My family and I did the whole museum thing and I basically left hating the city because... 12 year olds do not like museums? But if you followed my London blog, you know I am now quite the museum connoisseur. And if I had more than 2 days, I would've gladly gone back to a few of them.

Aside from the Capitol, Supreme Court and Library Congress, I have also been to most of the monuments, thanks to that family trip, and my quick day trip to D.C. last October. Lucky me, was assigned by my Milwaukee Magazine internship, to board a Boeing 747 with 200 WWII veterans and fly to D.C. for the day to see the war monuments. That was an incredible experience. Click: Honor Flight

Anyway, here are some photos of the Capitol area...

^favorite photo!

^Marie and I

Then we walked over to the Newseum, yes a museum dedicated to NEWS! A journalist's heaven basically. Out front there were the day's front page from a newspaper in each state.. so cool.

The museum itself was 4 or 5 floors, so there was a lot to see in the two hours we had. Although there is a lot to talk about, my favorite exhibits were the photograph exhibits....

 front pages throughout the past few hundred years...

and Sept. 11 exhibit, which even had a piece of the trade center wreckage....

^newspaper front pages after the attacks

^wreckage

After stopping in the gift shop to get a mug that says "Trust me, I'm a reporter" and a magnet that says "Not tonight dear, I'm on deadline" and a little plastic color changing cup that has the first amendment on it... we headed back to the apartment for some quick R&R before dinner.

It was 90 degrees and sunny both days I was in D.C. ugh. but, thankfully there was no humidity. AND, I'm so proud of myself for lathering on the sunscreen both days. This redheaded, freckled, pale skinned Irish girl made it through the weekend sunburn free. It's a miracle. No, actually, it's just me being smart about the sun for once :)

Saturday night we got dinner in this young area called Adam's Morgan. We ate at The Diner, as it's called, where I ordered the meatloaf and tater tots (America!) and Marie had mac & cheese (America!). All of it was delicious.. and we left feeling awkwardly full. Yet satisfied.

I slept in a bit on Sunday, we grabbed brunch at this really hoppin' open air restaurant (somewhere in d.c.?) then headed to the highly anticipated ZOO!!! Yes, the zoo. I went to the National Zoo on that 12-year-old trip and remember really liking it.

When we got to the zoo, it took us about 25 minutes to see an actual animal. A few of the exhibits were closed or the animals were nowhere to be seen... I was also really disappointed that the panda exhibit was under construction. No pandas??! Boooooo...

But, we did see some awesome tigers, lions, a prairie dog that had the hiccups and some elephants.

Pictures!

So the zoo took up most of the day, and by the time we got back to the apartment, I had to pack up and go to the bus station :( sad.

Marie was such a great host and showed me so much of D.C. that I haven't seen before, and my 12-year-old hatred of D.C. is no longer existent! D.C., while rough around the edges as most cities are, is still very unique and charming. And the weekend was a much appreciated get away.

And now I'm back in NYC, the concrete jungle, where I have one month left of my internship! Ahhh! Already half way over. Time flies... and still so much to do. Yikes...

But after that little D.C. break, I'm feeling more refreshed and ready to get back into the swing of things. Gotta make this last month count :)

Sayonara.